We Gather Together
by TheYoungTimpani
Summary: My Tiva Thanksgiving oneshot. Tony decides to introduce Ziva to the American holiday, Thanksgiving.


**We Gather Together**

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**Disclaimer: **I do not own NCIS.

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**Author's Note: **After I wrote my Halloween oneshot, someone told me that I should write a story for every holiday. I don't remember who that review came from (because when I'm writing this, the Internet isn't hooked up), but I decided to take your advice. I'll be writing more of these soon. This is the Thanksgiving oneshot. I plan on doing a big winter holiday (Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years one) and an Inauguration Day one in the coming months.

Enjoy.

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Three days before Thanksgiving, Abby bounced into the bullpen at NCIS to tell everyone goodbye.

"'Bye'? Where are you going?" McGee asked.

"Back to Louisiana for Thanksgiving with the family, duh, Timmy," she replied, "My uncle makes the best damn turducken in the _world_."

"What's a turducken?" Ziva asked.

"It's a boneless duck stuffed into a boneless chicken stuffed into a turkey and deep-fried. It is the centerpiece of a Cajun Thanksgiving," Abby explained, "Are you going somewhere, McGee?"

"Yeah, Sara and I are going to our grandmother's for Thanksgiving."

"Ahh...a McGathering of McGeeks...sounds _thrilling_," Tony teased.

"You goin' anywhere, Gibbs?" Abby asked.

"Pennsylvania."Ever since the reunion Gibbs and his father had been getting along much better, so no one questioned his plans to spend the holiday with Jackson.

"Tony, plans?"

"Uhhh...no, actually. I'm still not speaking to my father, so I'll be eating my turkey alone...and it'll probably be a turkey sub from a deli."

"Aww, Tony, that's so sad...Are you doing anything, Ziva?" Abby asked.

"Abby, you do realize that Thanksgiving is an _American _holiday, right?"

"Yeah."

"And that I am _Israeli_, not American, right?"

"Yeah, but you _live _in America! _Everyone _in America should celebrate Thanksgiving!...With other people!...even you, Tony!" Abby ranted.

Ziva shook her head at Abby and got in the elevator to leave.

Abby leaned conspiratorially over Tony's desk and whispered, "You should have Thanksgiving with her."

"Abby, she doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving."

"She doesn't have to! Everyone should be with the people they love on Thanksgiving...even you."

"Abby, what are you saying?" Tony snapped his head up, but Abby had already left.

"'People they love'?" he muttered to himself.

McGee stood up to leave and suddenly Tony realized that he was alone in the dark bullpen.

_Did he really love Ziva?_

_Did she love him?_

He decided to go ahead and try Abby's idea. What did he have to lose?

For the next two days, they did mostly paperwork. No new cases had came in, thankfully, as Abby and McGee were both gone.

Every night Tony went home and worked a little more on creating a perfect Thanksgiving. He even made sure everything was kosher, even though he was pretty sure that Ziva didn't usually keep kosher. He didn't want to give her any excuses not to partake in the feast.

Gibbs left early Wednesday morning so Tony and Ziva were alone in the bullpen, practically alone in the whole building.

Tony barely spoke all day; Ziva's suspicions began to rise.

"What are you up to, Tony?"

"What?"

"You're up to something. Tell me."

"I'm not up to anything."

"You're lying, I can tell when you're lying."

"I'm not lying."

"_Tony_."

"I swear, I'm not."

"I don't believe you."

"There's nothing going on in my stupid little head," he smiled.

She smiled back, "Really, Tony?"

"_Really_, Ziva."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing at all."

They worked for the remainder of the day until Tony stood up to leave.

As he left, Ziva called, "Happy Thanksgiving."

"You, too...oh, wait, you don't celebrate Thanksgiving," he teased with a grin.

She rolled her eyes as he left.

Early Thursday morning, Tony made sure everything was finished and ready then he got in his car and drove to Ziva's apartment.

He knocked loudly on the door and Ziva answered, looking twice as awake as he did.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" she asked, looking him over; he looked like he had been up all night, but he didn't seem drunk or smell like alcohol.

"You don't have to celebrate Thanksgiving, but you still have to watch the parade," he grinned, stepping around her into her apartment.

"What parade?"

He froze in his tracks.

"'What parade'? '_What parade_'?! The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Come on, Ziva!"

"What's the big deal about this parade?"

"No."

"What?"

"I _know_ you did _not_ just ask me that."

"Tony-"

"It is an essential part of growing up in America."

"Tony, you're sounding like Abby. I did not grow up in America, I grew up in Israel, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember; but how long have you been in America now? Four years?"

"Why are you here, Tony?"

"I thought we established that already," he said, throwing himself down on her couch and turning on the TV.

"Why was that Tony?"

"Shh! Al Roker's cutting the ribbon!" he said, beckoning her to sit with him,

She sighed, rolled her eyes, shut the door, and joined him on the couch.

"So...what is this?" she asked.

"It's a parade-"

"Obviously."

"A parade with floats and marching bands and celebrities and musicians and the biggest deal is the balloons-"

"Balloons, _really_?"

"Not like party balloons. Balloons shaped like cartoon characters that are the size of, like, three city buses."

"You're joking."

"No, look!" he pointed at the TV and she looked.

"Whoa...you weren't joking."

He grinned triumphantly.

Sometime during the parade, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

While they were watching, he would whisper in her ear stories about Thanksgivings while he was growing up. She smiled and watched and listened, chuckling occasionally.

When Santa Claus came and the parade was over, Tony turned off the TV. He grabbed her hand and led her toward the front door.

"Tony, what are you doing?"

"Come on, I wanna show you something," he smiled, handing her a coat.

"Tony-"

"Come on, Ziva. Trust me," he took her hand and led her to his car. He held the door open for her and once she was inside, he shut it.

He began to drive and she began to ask where they were going.

"It's a surprise," he answered, chuckling.

"Come on, Tony. Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see."

He stopped at his apartment complex and parked.

"Tony, isn't this your house?"

"Yes, it is."

"Why are we here?"

"Wait and see, m'lady," he laughed, opening the door for her.

Tony took Ziva's hand again and lead her apartment.

He opened the door behind his back and pushed it open wide. Then he stepped out of the way so that Ziva could see the perfectly set table and all of the food. "I couldn't find a turducken, I hope a turkey breast is okay."

"Tony..." she gasped, "I...you...I can't believe...this is...I don't even..."

"Whaddiya think?"

"Tony, this is amazing. No one's ever gone through so much trouble for me before."

"Don't say that, you haven't ate yet," he smiled.

"How about we do that now?" she smiled at him.

"You should smile like that more often, it's beautiful," he smiled back, playing with her hand in his own.

They stood there, smiling at each other for a moment before he said, "Yeah, let's go eat."

He led her over to the table and they ate their Thanksgiving lunch.

Tony had made all the traditional foods; turkey, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, cranberry sauce, dressing, and even a pumpkin pie.

It all tasted wonderful and Ziva told Tony this over and over again.

After they had eaten, Tony went over and took her hand again and led her to this couch and turned on the TV and put in a DVD.

"What are we watching?" she asked.

"Well, I couldn't find any Thanksgiving movies, so I opted for the next best thing...a football movie. _Remember the Titans_, is that okay?"

"I like that movie," she smiled.

Sometime during the movie, she leaned up against his chest and he put his arms around his waist. He leaned his neck down and rested his chin on her shoulder.

When the movie went off, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek then nuzzled her neck. She giggled a little and he chuckled.

"Well?" he asked, kissing her cheek again.

"Well, what?" she asked, smiling at him.

"Well, how was your first Thanksgiving?"

She leaned back and kissed his jaw and giggled at the fell of the stubble on her lips.

"It's not over yet," she said, smiling.

"Oh? Do you have plans?" he asked as she turned on the couch to face him.

"I just might."

He held her face gently in his hands and pulled her up into a slow, lingering kiss.

"Now, about those plans," he laughed as he stood up and took her hands to lead her into his bedroom.

Later that evening, they were laying in bed together. Her head rested on his chest and her hand was spread across his chest, fingering the hair. He geld her tightly to his body with one arm and ran his other hand through her hair, wrapping coils of it around his fingers.

"Tony," she sighed, "this was a perfect day."

He laughed.

"No, really," she continued, "You didn't have to do so much for me. No one has ever done anything like this for me. I couldn't have asked for anything better."

"Yeah, well, it was Abby's idea...well, not all of it," he laughed, looking over his room and their clothing strewn around the floor.

"Abby told you to cook me a Thanksgiving...feast?"

"Well, not exactly. She told me to spend Thanksgiving with you. She said that everyone should spend Thanksgiving with the ones they love," he smiled.

"Tony, are you saying-"

"Do you?"

"...Of course I do."

"Say it."

"I love you, Tony."

"That's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard," she smiled from ear to ear and leaned down to kiss her, " I love you, Ziva."

They continued to lay there in the silent comfort of each other's presence.

Finally, Tony asked, "So, how was your first Thanksgiving?"

She raised up to give him another kiss and replied, "I think it's my new favorite holiday."

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**A.N.:** Okay, so that was my Thanksgiving one shot.

Yes, turduckens are real. I've never ate one, but I've saw Emeril and Paula Deen and Alton Brown (maybe) make them on TV and this guy on PBS made turducken breasts (a turkey breast stuffed with a chicken breast stuffed with a duck breast). It's a Cajun thing...I think Justin Wilson might have made one on his PBS show...

The line "Nothing going on in my stupid little head" is based on the line "Nothing going on in his stupid little head." which is the line that Mr. Pendanski uses to describe Zero in the movie _Holes..._I don't recall the line in the book, but it might have been there.

Al Roker always cuts the ribbon to start the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Santa Claus is always at the end of the parade.

And for the record, there wasn't any special reason that they watched _Remember the Titans_, it was just the first movie I saw on my shelf when I looked up.

This story is dedicated to Mrs. Hartsfield, who helped me when I blew up; Micah and Shelby, who told me it was going to be okay; John, who tried to wipe away my tears; Blake, who made me give him a hug; Kaleb, who rubbed Blake's hairy belly to make me feel better; Jordon, Maggie, Erin, and Josh, who asked me if I was okay. Now I am. Just know that statistics is an awful, _awful _class and only hell itself could be worse.

Please review and have a happy Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving is my birthday!)


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